Lewandowski rescues Barcelona! That is some ending to a game, the hitman equalising either side of Gosens giving Inter a lead they thought would take them through to the knockout stage at their opponents’ expense. Huge relief for the hosts, who are still three points behind Inter with an inferior head-to-head record ahead of the two final group stage fixtures. Inzaghi’s side should be happier with the result – after that ending, though, they are entitled to feel some frustration.
Full Time #BarçaInter pic.twitter.com/3Yh1HTpjaK
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 12, 2022
Rovert Lewandowski struck two late equalisers to keep Barcelona’s top-two hopes alive. After Edin Dzeko hit the crossbar for the visitors early on, Barca went ahead through Ousmane Dembele before the break. Nicolo Barella and Lautaro Martínez produced clinical finishes before Lewandowski drilled in with eight minutes remaining. Robin Gosens restored Inter’s lead in the 89th minute, and the Nerazzurri were seconds from joining Bayern in the last 16 when Lewandowski levelled again two minutes into added time.
Barcelona are still facing elimination at the group stage of the competition for the second consecutive season but Lewandowski’s stoppage-time equaliser gave them a slim chance of progressing with two games left.
Inter need a home win over Viktoria Plzen next week to join Bayern Munich in the last 16.
Nicolo Barella has been named Player of the Match. UEFA’s Technical Observer Panel said: “He was hard working, dynamic and showed good technical and tactical skills, with a great goal to make it 1-1.”
Martínez’s goal was his first in the group stage since November 2020, when he found the net against Real Madrid.
Inter coach Simone Inzaghi said, “I congratulated the boys – we played a great match against an opponent of great value. We created a lot, suffering all together; we could have closed the group with two games to spare. We hope to give the fans this satisfaction against Viktoria Plzen.”
Barcelona coach Xavi said ,”We committed errors the like of which you can’t afford in this competition. Now we have to rely on faith and character and pick ourselves up again. We haven’t shown the best version of ourselves in this competition but we still have the league, the cup and the Super Cup to play for domestically and the season is long. The tactical idea was good. Perhaps we dropped intensity in the second half. We are a team so I’m not going tro pick out players. If Piqué, Busquets, Pedri or Dembélé make mistakes, then I’ve failed.”
Bengali